Child of the Moon

Exams got complicated

"I'm bored!" Aki yelled loudly, sitting up from her spot on the floor. "What are we even supposed to do once we're here?"

"It's only been half a day, calm down," Aiyanna sighed.

"Team 8 arrived a little while ago if you wanted to see Kiba?" Nanami commented.

"Akamaru!" Aki screamed, jumping to her feet. She charged past the Sand Siblings, who were also becoming impatient, and probably irritated with Aki's screaming and yelling.

She slammed open some doors, where Team 8 was waiting, but before she could open her mouth to speak, another team arrived.

Covered in blood.

"Mikio! What the hell happened?" Aiyanna called, pushing past Aki to get to the team.

"We were attacked by a psycho," Katsu said, wincing. "Mikio and I were taken out first, but then Sensei appeared and saved Miniko."

"We need to find help for him, now!" Miniko cried.

"Aiyanna," Aki turned to the other girl, who nodded.

She flowed through a series of hand signs and created an indent in the ground. "Put him in there, but remove the bandages and his shirt."

"He'll bleed out!"

"We gotta move fast here guys," Aki said, as Aiyanna moved through a new set of hand signs. The indent filled with water and the air felt a little drier.

The team shared a quick look, before doing exactly as they were told. Once in the water, it quickly turned red.

"That... is vicious," Aki commented, a queasy look on her face. "What the hell happened?"

"Aki, I need to concentrate," Aiyanna said, putting her hands on Kurai's shoulders. Her eyes turned from their normal violet to a light ocean blue, and her hands glowed faintly as the water became charged with her chakra.

"Right, guys over here," Aki waved the group over, Team 8 having joined up. The Sand Siblings were a discreet distance from them, probably within earshot, but Aki was way too curious to care. "What happened?"

"Well, we were running through the forest, on our way here," Katsu explained.

"We'd just gotten our second scroll, and so I guess we were feeling a little confident," Mikio said.

"And then... I guess I got knocked out?"

"You guess?" Kiba gave Katsu a confused look.

"I mean, it was so fast, I didn't even realize I was out until I woke up," Katsu defended.

"I also didn't have much time to process what happened," Mikio agreed. "I was activating my byakugan, and then I think I got knocked out too. It all happened in like... two heartbeats."

"That's fast," Nanami commented, frowning. "You didn't detect him before he hit you?"

"He came out of nowhere," Mikio sighed. "I didn't see him until he'd kicked Katsu through the air."

Aki noticed that Miniko was trembling. "What about you? You seem super scared. Did you see what happened to your sensei?"

"Sensei arrived in time to save me..." Miniko said softly. "I tried to fight him after he took the other two down, but he was too fast... I thought I was going to die, but sensei stopped him."